The present invention generally concerns an improved poultry wing receiving wheel and more particularly concerns a multipiece replacement wheel assembly and corresponding method, for use in connection with an apparatus having cutting blades and guide members and used for cutting apart poultry wings.
Poultry processing is an industry which has incorporated mechanization to a considerable degree. Various functions corresponding to different phases of processing poultry are readily automated, subject to accounting for variations in different sizes of poultry specimens. Overall efficiency of a processing line depends on the successful operation of each station or processing phase. One processing phase of present concern relates to a conventional apparatus or machine for cutting apart poultry wings.
As is well known in the poultry processing industry, the wing of a chicken extends from the body of the chicken in jointed sections. Specifically, there are three sections of a chicken which, in order as they extend from the body of the chicken, are referred to as the drummette, the middle section, and the flipper (or tip). The drummette and middle section are joined at what is known as the elbow joint, while the middle section and flipper are joined by what is known as the flipper joint.
Conventional wing cutting apparatus makes use of a rotatable wheel which has a plurality of circumferentially spaced lateral troughs therearound, in which poultry wings are received and presented for being cut into respective sections at the aforementioned elbow and flipper joints. Specifically, typical wheels associated with such conventional wing cutting apparatus have a pair of annular slots into which cutting blades or guide bars or members from the wing cutting apparatus may be inserted. With a poultry wing received in one of the circumferentially located lateral troughs such that the elbow joint and flipper joint of such wing align respectively with the two annular slots of such wheel, the apparatus may be used to draw knife blades through such slots so as to sever or cut apart the wing at the respective joints. Resilient or in some cases fixed guide members may also be drawn into such annular slots so as to force the poultry wings into proper orientation or to otherwise secure such poultry wings for cutting thereof.
Gasbarro (U.S. Patent No. 4,207,653) and Hazenbroek (U.S. Patent No. 4,577,368) disclose two examples of such conventional automatic wing cutting apparatus, including conventional poultry wing receiving wheels respectively mounted therein for receiving poultry wings and being rotatably driven during operation of such apparatus. Such conventional wheels are generally mostly of one piece construction and may comprise synthetic or manmade materials such as thermoplastics, for example, nylon. The disclosure of such two U.S. patents (Gasbarro '653 and Hazenbroek '368) are both fully incorporated herein by reference, including all aspects of the conventional wing cutting apparatus themselves, as well as the conventional poultry wing receiving wheels described therein and their operational and functional relationship with respect to the remainder of such apparatus.
As well illustrated in the poultry wing receiving wheel cross-sectional views of such respective patents (FIG. 5 of Gasbarro '653 and FIGS. 3-5 of Hazenbroek '368), the wing receiving wheels are for the most part generally of one piece construction. However, formation of a plurality of annular slots in addition to a plurality of circumferentially spaced wing receiving troughs in a one piece construction results in a complex fabrication problem. Moreover, the lateral troughs, through one aspect or another of the overall constructions of the cited references, provide and establish a predetermined wing receiving profile including a relative trough peak or ridge for one poultry wing joint (for example, the elbow joint) while simultaneously providing a relative trough valley for receipt of and association with the other poultry wing joint (for example, primarily the flipper joint). The resulting fabrication difficulty is compounded by the fact that the workpiece material (for example, a thermoplastic such as nylon) is in general not repairable. In other words, if an error is made or damage to the overall wheel results during its fabrication, the entire workpiece must be scrapped.
Still an even greater problem arising from use of such mostly one piece wheels is occasioned by the normal expected wear (and even the normal expected damage) which occurs to particular elements of the wheel during its use. For example, after perhaps several months of normal use, the peripheral teeth (in one or more spots) may become worn on the wheel, which situation requires that the entire one piece wheel be replaced in order to correct such excessive wear on even one small facet or part of the workpiece. Without such correction, poultry wings can be mishandled, misfed, or miscut, thereby diminishing efficiency of such processing phase and ultimately having an adverse impact on an entire poultry processing line.
Also, the prospect of damage to the wheel (such as one or more of the peripheral teeth breaking out during use) is another not uncommon occurrence and is clearly another potential area for difficulty. Yet, a one piece wheel arrangement (though relatively difficult to fabricate and generally impossible to repair) offers desired stability during handling of a plurality of chicken wings (particularly as adequate forces are being brought to bear so as to cut apart such wings).
Given the food processing nature of such prior art apparatus, it is also a practical matter that one should constantly consider and address issues of sanitation. In other words, any aspect or feature of the conventional wheel cutting apparatus which involves handling of or cutting the poultry wings requires an accommodation of necessary sanitation measures. The poultry wing receiving wheel is one such feature on conventional wing cutting apparatus.